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Study shows not all ADHD children benefit from dietary changes

Together with child and adolescent psychiatrists, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have just completed an extensive report which reviews the studies which have been done so far on the significance of diet for children and young people with ADHD. The report shows that there are potential benefits in changing the diets of children with ADHD, but that key knowledge in the area is still lacking.

25 Apr 2012

Stress can shorten telomeres at a very young age

Children who have experienced violence might really be older than their years. The DNA of 10-year-olds who experienced violence in their young lives has been found to show wear and tear normally associated with aging, a Duke University study has found.

24 Apr 2012

Nigeria's first-ever national Vaccine Summit addresses child mortality burden

Nigeria's top government officials, civil society leaders and leaders of private industry resolved today to join forces to expand vaccine access nationwide, a major step in the fight to reduce child mortality in a country with the world's second highest number of child deaths.

24 Apr 2012

Study finds better outcomes in VLBW infants born at RNE hospitals

In a study that included more than 72,000 very low-birth-weight infants, among those born in hospitals with recognition for nursing excellence (RNE), compared with non-RNE hospitals, there was a significantly lower rate of hospital infection, death at 7-days and severe intraventricular hemorrhage but not lower rates of death at 28-days or hospital stay mortality, according to a study in the April 25 issue of JAMA.

24 Apr 2012

CDC Director calls for 'final push' to eradicate polio

"A 'final push' is needed toward eradication of polio worldwide, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said" in an online update on the agency's polio eradication efforts, United Press International reports. "Polio incidence dropped more than 99 percent since the launch of global polio eradication efforts in 1988 and no polio cases have been reported since January 2011 in India, one of the four remaining endemic countries, a CDC report said," UPI writes.

24 Apr 2012

Link between under-controlled temperament in early childhood and later compulsive gambling

Give me the child at 3 and I will give you the adult compulsive gambler. That is the striking finding of a new study in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science.

24 Apr 2012

USAID's Shah urges cooperation to improve child health, survival

"Seeing a child die from pneumonia, diarrhea or a mosquito bite is simply unimaginable to most parents. But that is the sad reality for many families each day," USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah writes in a Huffington Post Blog opinion piece, noting, "Last year over seven million children under five died of largely preventable causes."

24 Apr 2012

Collective bargaining agreements mean public employee benefit changes in Conn., Wis.

Collective bargaining agreements are changing health plans in Connecticut and Wisconsin for home care workers, teachers and a police union -- which, if it was not granted an injunction from a judge, would have had to pay new deductibles and copays in Milwaukee.

24 Apr 2012

Text messaging increases flu vaccination coverage in low-income children

A text messaging intervention with education-related messages sent to parents increased influenza vaccination coverage compared with usual care in a traditionally hard-to-reach, low-income, urban, minority population of children and adolescents, although coverage overall remained low, according to a study in the April 25 issue of JAMA.

24 Apr 2012

IADR/AADR publish two studies about dental caries in children

The International and American Associations for Dental Research have published two studies about dental caries in children. These articles, titled "Hypoplasia-Associated Severe Early Childhood Caries - A Proposed Definition" and "Deciduous Molar Hypomineralization and Molar Incisor Hypomineralization" discuss the definitions of dental caries susceptibility to the hypomineralization and hypoplasia.

24 Apr 2012

Rising food prices affecting efforts to reach MDGs for food, nutrition, World Bank/IMF report says

"Higher global food prices are hampering attempts to hit targets for food and nutrition," and "rates of child and maternal mortality are still 'unacceptably high' -- partly as a result of surging commodity prices," according to the Global Monitoring Report 2012, released by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday in Washington, D.C., the Guardian reports.

24 Apr 2012

Study finds high levels of cancer-fighting TRAIL in human milk

The benefits of breast milk are well known, but why breastfeeding protects against various forms of cancer remains a mystery. A new study in the Journal of Human Lactation found high levels of cancer-fighting TNF-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) in human milk, which might be one source of breast milk's anticancer activity.

24 Apr 2012

Study finds increase in use of emergency CT in pediatric patients with abdominal pain

Computed tomography (CT) utilization in pediatric patients with non-traumatic abdominal pain increased in emergency departments each year between 1999 and 2007, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology. The study authors found no corresponding increase in ultrasound use during the same period, despite research supporting it as an important diagnostic tool for assessing pediatric abdominal pain.

24 Apr 2012

Women & Infants named lead center in 14-site study of cytomegalovirus

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, through its participation in the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network, has been named the lead center in a 14-site, $25 million study of cytomegalovirus (CMV), the most common infection during pregnancy.

24 Apr 2012

Strategic innovations will help prevent HIV transmission from mothers to children, high-level meeting attendees state

At a High-Level Meeting on Innovation for Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission (EMTCT) on Friday in Washington, D.C., "HIV experts, business leaders, aid agencies and ambassadors of 22 priority countries -- home to 90 percent of new HIV infections among children --" agreed that strategic innovations are necessary to curb the spread of the virus from women to their children, PANA/Afrique en Linge reports.

24 Apr 2012

Twins born to brain dead mother on a respirator for a month

Christine Bolden – a 26 year old woman was already brain dead from aneurysms, but doctors at a western Michigan hospital kept her on a respirator for a month to allow for the development of babies who were born prematurely at 25 weeks.

24 Apr 2012

Frequent family meals can lead to decreased obesity

"Come and get it!" A phrase historically proclaiming that the communal meal is ready, is heard all too infrequently among contemporary American households, especially as children get older.

24 Apr 2012

CMAJ outlines possible causes and treatments for bedwetting in children

Bedwetting in older children is common, but it can be distressing. An article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) outlines possible causes and evidence for current treatments.

24 Apr 2012

TopBP1 protein prevents early brain cells from DNA damage

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have rewritten the job description of the protein TopBP1 after demonstrating that it guards early brain cells from DNA damage. Such damage might foreshadow later problems, including cancer.

24 Apr 2012

Mayo Clinic vaccine expert, pediatrician refute 3 common myths about child vaccine safety

In the limited time of an office visit, how can a primary care physician make the case to parents that their child should be vaccinated? During National Infant Immunization Week, a Mayo Clinic vaccine expert and a pediatrician offer suggestions for refuting three of the most common myths about child vaccine safety. Their article, The Clinician's Guide to the Anti-Vaccinationists' Galaxy, is published online this month in the journal Human Immunology.

24 Apr 2012